The Private Healthcare Market Investigation Order (the Order) from the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) may not sound exciting or relevant to you, but following years of effort, and significant investment, its full implementation this month could be life changing for patients and their families across the UK.
1. Improved access to hospitals and consultants
Back in 2014, when the Order began, if you wanted to know about private healthcare, it was hard to find informed, independent information about the procedure you may need, or the hospital or consultant who could provide it from a source you can trust.
Now thanks to the Order, the PHIN website contains a variety of safety, quality and cost information on the 690 hospitals (including whether they have free parking) and 12,600 surgical consultants offering private elective healthcare services in the UK, and much more, at the click of a mouse. Our website already receives more than 50,000 patient visitors a month on average, and it can help so many others.
Patients have always been at the heart of what we do and with record levels of information now being published on our website, patients are better able than ever to make informed decisions about their healthcare. This has become increasingly important in recent years with more and more patients choosing to ‘go private’, especially in the face of a long and uncertain wait on the NHS.
2. Improving services patients receive through increased competition
Information for patients about hospitals and consultants is very important, but the Order also set out to improve competition between the hospitals and consultants you can turn to for private healthcare.
By making the market more ‘transparent’, it is easier for healthcare providers to see where they can do better, or for new companies to join the UK’s healthcare market and offer services that weren’t previously available.
The data PHIN collects and publishes makes all this more possible than ever before and means that you can receive better quality care.
3. Enhancing people’s understanding of healthcare
People’s understanding of healthcare in the UK is generally pretty low. In fact, the NHS reports that just under half of all adults in the UK do not understand written health information. This figure rises to nearly two-thirds when numeracy (numbers, risk, probabilities) is included. [1]
That’s not really as surprise as our health is often something we take for granted, and most UK residents have grown up expecting the NHS to cover any needs that arise. Therefore, many of us don’t spend time learning about something we don’t have an immediate need for.
However, we’ll all be patients (or know people who are) at one point in our life or another, so at PHIN we try to help explain some of the issues you’ll come across, especially if you’re thinking of going private.
We publish many guides alongside our hospital and consultant information to help patients understand the test or operation (procedure) they might undergo, as well as how the private healthcare sector works (how to pay, how to find the right provider etc) to help improve people’s understanding of their healthcare options, so that they can make more informed choices.
4. Countering misinformation and disinformation
If you do take the time to look for healthcare information you can find it hard to find reliable, accurate sources. The web and social media platforms are awash with misinformation (where people share inaccurate information believing it to be true) and disinformation (where people deliberately spread false information). It can be hard to know where to go and who to trust.
Mis/Disinformation were not major issues when the Order was first introduced, but by giving PHIN the role of collecting and publishing information, the CMA has created an independent, government backed and free to use service that patients can trust. We don’t tell you what to do or who to see, but instead help inform your own decision.
Our patient research has shown that GPs maintain a significant role in helping people understand their options, with word of mouth from friends and family another popular option, but it’s important to back these up with informed and impartial information.
Confident choices
So, at first glance, the Order may not sound like the most exciting topic, but we’re immensely proud of our achievement in successfully delivering full compliance with its requirements and believe that it will help us to achieve our vision that 'Everyone can make confident choices about their healthcare to get the best outcomes'.
